Israel; Judah introduced to lead to the royal race of David
At length, in the second chapter, we find Israel, all of whose sons were more or less under the care of God who had loved Jacob.
Judah is then introduced to lead us to the royal race of David, the object also of the promises according to the election of God.
Besides this, we find a picture of the prosperity of Judah’s family in general, and that of Caleb’s family in particular, who was faithful to God in his generation. God has preserved the memorial of it in this place.1 Thus also the way in which the land was peopled and its internal history are vividly presented to the reader.
(1. It is well to remark here that in all these genealogies, when a family has been established in a place, the name of the place is often used for that of the family; that the descendants, through several generations, are named together as children of the head of the race (compare chapter 4:1 with the commencement of chapter 2); and that, without having been named before, the eminent man of a family is taken to begin a genealogy anew (ch. 8:29,33).)